How Super Bowl Success For The Jacksonville Jaguars Could Be A Good Thing For Fulham

The Jacksonville Jaguars have just been beaten narrowly by the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game; being denied the opportunity reach the Super Bowl for the first time in their history.

The Jags shouldn’t be disheartened by the result though as a Super Bowl is in sight within the next couple of years if they can keep the core group of players together.

The Jaguars have seen a lot of success as of late due to huge investment from owner Shahid Khan. The same man who owns Fulham F.C.

Since his $770 million takeover of the Florida franchise in 2011, The Jags have gone from being the worst team in the NFL to serious contenders. With their star players such as Blake Bortles and Calais Campbell earning just under $20 million a year. Khan hasn’t been shy of putting his money into the squad.

Khan hasn’t been as generous during his time as Fulham owner. Spending money sporadically with certain big investments such as Kostas Mitroglou backfiring after a £12 million outlay.

By all accounts Khan is a lot more focussed on getting The Jaguars Super Bowl success than he is getting Fulham back to the Premier League. Handing over day to day running if the club to his son Tony who is quite a controversial figure amongst Fulham fans.

So how does success in the US bode well for Fulham on the banks of the Thames? If Khan tastes success at the Jags in the next couple of years he may want to do the same at Fulham.

If Khan can see what he is able to do if he puts money into a sports franchise he may want to taste similar success in the other kind of football. Shahid Khan is worth a reported $8.5 billion dollars making him the seventh richest football club owner in England, above the likes of The Glazers and John. W. Henry.

He pays the highest earner at the Jacksonville Jaguars around $365,000 a week according to http://www.sportrac.com whereas Fulham’s highest earner is apparently Tom Cairney earning £35,000 a week according to reports. Which comes to around $48,000 over 7.5 times less than Blake Bortles earns in the NFL. So if Khan put in to Fulham a fraction of what he puts into The Jags The Whites would be able to steamroll The Championship in a similar fashion to Wolves this season.

Of course financial fair play would be an obstacle, however due to it being a three year process of calculating financial outlays one year of big investment in The Championship would get Fulham into the Premier League where TV deals and sponsorships almost make FFP something you don’t need to worry about. That is if Fulham don’t get promoted this campaign.

I will always remember Khan saying in his first interview on Sky Sports News that he wanted to compete with the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City with Fulham and the taste of success with The Jaguars may be the motivation he needs to make this a reality at Fulham. Rather than just palming off responsibilities to his son, he may take the reigns at Fulham and inject some of his billions into making Fulham a top team in England.